Hyde Park
London ’s parks and gardens make it one of the greenest Capital Cities in the world, with tree lined squares and through fares, large sweeping areas of grass and lakes teeming with bird life, which make for a relaxing escape from the bustle of the city.
Many of these green areas date back to medieval times and were once common grazing grounds or the private hunting grounds of nobility while other areas are still privately owned.
The best known and largest of the parks in the centre of London are the Royal parks of Hyde Park, St James’s Park, Regents Park and Kensington Gardens. When combined, Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens make up an area of parkland that is larger than the City of London, through which you can walk from Bayswater to Buckingham Palace and on to Trafalgar Square via St James Park, surrounded by greenery and fresh air.
During the reign of Henry VIII , Hyde Park, the largest of the royal parks was chiefly the King’s private hunting grounds. From the 16th Century it was opened to the public and became a haunt of Highwaymen and Duellists. It features the bridle path known as Rotten Row, a number of Statuettes such as those of the god Pan and goddess Diana and that of the fictional character Peter Pan. The Serpentine is the lake running from Hyde Park Corner to the Italian Water Gardens near Bayswater and is home to around a hundred species of birds.
Around the 16th Century Kensington ‘village’, around the gardens, was a semi rural retreat for London’s high society, before the city encroached upon it. This trend was set by William of Orange who moved his royal court away from the smoggy surrounds of Whitehall Palace to the more genial setting of Kensington Palace . It has remained a royal residence since, and today Kensington Gardens are popular with Joggers, skaters – even ice skaters if the winter weather is cold enough to freeze the Round Pond. Here you’ll find the friendliest squirrels and pigeons around, being so used to humans feeding them, they are also the fattest around too!
Leading from Buckingham Palace to Whitehall is St James’s Park. A popular retreat fro city workers in summer, St James’s Park is also a reserve for wildfowl, opposite is Green Park a leafy spot of shady trees and park side benches.
Regent’s Park in the north of London was also a former hunting ground of Henry VIII and was heavily forested until Oliver Cromwell chopped down most of the trees to build ships for the navy. Now the park houses London Zoo, has a large boating lake ideal for lazy summer days and an open-air theatre. The graceful Terraces surrounding the park, designed by John Nash in the 18th Century make it one of London’s most civilised residences.
